to be honest - I think its not entirely a British phenomena, what I'm talking about.

I think for example that Ry Cooder's bar room sound - doesn't sound much like anything in a real bar room. A bit too arty farty for the drunken maniacs most real musicians working real bar rooms have to appease.

English folk music(as broadcast) is so far outside the sensibilities of most English people as to really require no further elaboration. I wasn't taking a smack at any particular musicians - we all work as best we can.

That's why all these podcasts and Mudcat are so great. IT's like hearing England's working musicians breathe. too late for most of my generation, but future youngsters won't be tied down by the Lilliputian imagination of the music industry. I firmly believe we never got to hear the best songs of our generation.